All Sami craftsmen use a few basic materials
such as horn,
wood and leather. Although one can find genuine Sami handcraft
where the
artisan have chosen to include parts made of silver, tin or
cloth as well.

The horns -or "antlers"- comes from
the reindeers,
these are not taken directly from the animals but are collected
after the reindeer-bulls
have dropped their horns in the early winter or in the spring
when the
cow's lose theirs. All leather used also comes from the
reindeers, it is
either tanned with one or several kinds of bark but rawhide
might also
be used. The wooden parts are often made of arctic birch, a
smallgrown
tree that grows slowly and gets remarkably hard. Something
that was useful
in the nomadic culture of the past when the Samipeople needed
tools and
storagevessels that could endure tough handling. The items
displayed on
these pages are created of horn, leather and wood only.
These are truly individual works of art, and among the most unique
gift items that can be purchased in the world today. All pictures of
items approximate the look of the item you could purchase, but each
is hand carved by the artisan, and can differ slightly from the pictures
displayed here. These are not mass-produced items, but individual works of art.

Boxes and vessels.

A case like that one above originally was
used for storing
larger items such as houshold utensils, nowadays it's mostly a
collectors
item that could be a decorative part of your bookshelf. Or
-perhaps- be
used to keep other possessions out of reach from persons who
are unable
to let things alone. The smaller vessels below are entirely
made out of
reindeer horn. They are virtually unbreakable when the lid is
squeezed
in place and will not open until one applies a moderate
pressure on the
right spot.

Click on either box to download a
slightly larger
image.

knives.

Five different knives are displayed here: The
two to the
left are sheatknives made of horn and leather, the other are
exclusively
made out of horn except for the blade which are made of forged
iron. Note
that there's an extra knife in the middle, both fits in the
same hornsheet,
the smaller one is locked in place when the larger knife is
inserted